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The book is called GOAT, some editions of it come with an inflatable dolphin, a stool and a fake  tyre, and it weighs about as much as a large dog.

So you might be slightly surprised to discover that it is actually about a boxer:  Muhammad Ali.

And at $24,000 for the standard edition, you might need to win a title fight of your own before buying this weighty tome.

GOAT, an acronym for greatest of all time - which is what Ali's fans reckon he is - is a tribute to the fighter now battling Parkinson's disease. It is also the most expensive coffee table book in Hong Kong, although most coffee tables may need a little reinforcing before having this 34kg beast - about the weight of a fully grown female Alaskan Malamute - dropped on them.

Numbers are strictly limited - there are only 9,000 of the standard collector's edition and 1,000 of the $60,000-ish champion's edition, which comes with the dolphin and other accoutrements.

Kwan Chun-ming, general manager of Kelly and Walsh booksellers in Pacific Place, where a mock-up of the book is on display, said the book wasn't exactly floating, butterfly-like, out the door. 'We've had a few inquiries,' he said, 'but no one has bought one yet ... It's very expensive.'

Mr Kwan believed Hong Kong's nascent economic recovery might help sales.

'We don't expect to sell many of them, but it's still a very interesting book because of the size and because of the binding and other factors.'

The version of the book people will receive when they buy it is bound in bright pink leather by the Vatican's official bindery, and comes in its own silk-lined box.

It's also signed by Ali as well as modern artist Jeff Koons, the man behind the blow-up dolphin, stool and  tyre that accompany the champion's edition.

Benedikt Taschen,  whose publishing company produced the book, said it had been a labour of love. 'I must have looked at several million photographs of Ali in archives around the world. I went to see hundreds of photographers, journalists, writers, spoke to ex-opponents, his managers, his lawyers - everybody I could think of.'



Book packs mighty punch to the wallet